Margaret Murphy Mohler Strahan

Nurse, educator, academic administrator and volunteer addressing women's equality, health, conflict resolution, justice, poverty, church hypocrisy, and her college alumnae’s legacy.

Peggy Anne Murphy was a daughter of Cyril Marcellus Murphy, senior partner with John C. Legg & Co. and Margaret Dunn Murphy, a homemaker. She was born September 17, 1935 at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The family moved to Long Island, New York when she was six weeks old when her father opened the New York office of Legg & Co. on Beaver Street.

Returning to Baltimore in 1953, she attended and graduated in 1957 from Mount Saint Agnes College which merged with Loyola College, now University, in 1971. Her career as a nurse began at Mercy Hospital. She received her master's degree in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Maryland, School of Nursing in 1959 and a Ph.D. in Education with a minor in Counseling and Student Development at The American University, Washington, DC in January 1992. Her doctoral dissertation addressed the continuing education needs of registered nurses in the State of Maryland. "Never Stop Learning" was Peggy's motto!

Prior to being the first Director of Grants and Grants Management at Howard Community College, Columbia, Maryland, Peggy was Director of the International Business and Education Center for five years; first Director of Strategic Planning and Community Development in the Office of Continuing Education and served as the college's administrative liaison with the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center. In 1993, Peggy received the Maryland Association for Adult, Community and Continuing Education "Outstanding Research Award." She retired from the community college in October, 2005.

Peggy taught Pediatric Nursing and Sex Education in grade schools and high schools and was one of the co-founders of the Baltimore Task Force on the Status of Women in the Church from 1973-1982; first woman president of Catholic Charities Board of Directors and the first vice president of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council having served on the St. John's parish council in Columbia, Maryland and the southwest suburban area council.

Selected as the 1974 "Alumna of the Year" by the Mount Saint Agnes College Alumnae Association; she was the first laywoman elected to Loyola College's Board of Trustees receiving the John Carroll Medal in 1988. For approximately 30 years, Peggy served as president of the Mount Alumnae Association. She served on the Board of the Howard County Rape Crisis Center and the Maryland Community College Consortium for Continuing Education in Nursing. Peggy also chaired the Howard County Alcohol and Substance Abuse Advisory Board and served on Senator Barbara Mikulski's Board of Review for appointment to the U.S. Military Academies.

Family and friends were special in her life! She enjoyed movies, music, theater, museums, reading, walking, traveling and visiting New York City. She was an advocate for the ordination of women and optional celibacy in the Catholic Church, passionate about equality, justice, peace and addressing poverty.

Peggy's family included her four sons: Dr. Emile Riggs Mohler, III (who died in 2017 from ALS) and his wife Bonnie from Newtown Square, PA, Thomas Edward Mohler and his wife Barbara from Catonsville, William Dennis Mohler and his wife Ann from Elkridge and Robert Charles Mohler and his wife Chez from Burbank, CA., three step-daughters Susan Strahan (who died in 2022), Nancy Strahan and Sally Matthews, and two brothers J. Dennis Murphy and James E. Murphy. Her sister, Jane O'Brien, died in 2012. She loved being called "Gammy Peg" by eleven grandchildren: Emilie and her spouse Stacy, Greg, John, Lindsay, Elizabeth and her spouse Danny, Cassie and her spouse Sam, Caroline, Riley, Patrick, Maggie and Ellie. She recently became a great grandmother to Addison, daughter of Cassie. Her first marriage was to Dr. Emile R. Mohler, Jr. and her second marriage was to Dr. John F. Strahan.

Friends may call at Candle Light Funeral Home in Catonsville, MD on Monday, February 24th from 2-4 pm or 6-8 pm. A memorial service will be celebrated at Our Lady of the Angels at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, MD on Tuesday, February 25th at 10 am with interment at New Cathedral Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the ALS Association DC/MD VA